The Bridge on the Drina

Author: Ivo Andrić

Translated by Sami Al-Drubi

As we read this great novel, a question arises: When will this repetition of political conflicts, which use religion as a pretext, ever end? The events of this novel take place in the Serbian city of Višegrad, a mixed city inhabited by Christians and Muslims. Over centuries, authorities change and conflicts persist, in a narrative that spans from 1571, when the construction of the bridge began by order of Grand Vizier Mehmed Paša Sokolović, who was taken as a child from his parents to be raised in Istanbul, then became a Turkish officer, then a minister with great power... The novel concludes with the World War which led to the collapse of Turkish dominance and the Austrian control over the city.
As for the bridge, which Andrić describes as "unparalleled in its beauty," it is the true protagonist of the novel; all events taking place in Višegrad are connected to it. Through it, the novel presents a splendid picture of the lives of the city's inhabitants, with all its pains and conflicts, and also with its cooperation and attempts to spare their city the repercussions of those conflicts.